Waiting for this so I can say how much I <3 hardnrg for the first pro he listed(Just sticking it to some folks here ) but also to knock him for the comparison he set up. Xonar vs tricked-out XtremeMusic is hardly a fair comparison. Still, it's all he had to work with so I suppose we can forgive him just this once.

(...) knock him for the comparison he set up. Xonar vs tricked-out XtremeMusic is hardly a fair comparison. Still, it's all he had to work with so I suppose we can forgive him just this once.

Meh, I also have an SB Live Digital 5.1 (SB0220 Dell OEM), a modified Audigy2 ZS and an unmodified Audigy2 ZS... but can you even still buy those cards? I'm sure the Audigy2 ZS has been EOL/Discontinued for a while now, and the Dell OEM card is just lol.

It wasn't supposed to be a fair or even comparison, it was meant to be a tough competition to see how much better the Xonar D1 was over modern onboard audio, and also how close it compared to an X-Fi card with high quality outputs (like the Prelude, which you *can* still buy)

Even taking that into account, the cards are still on two different tiers. Like comparing an 8800GT to a GTX280. But that last half of your post does clear up the reasoning behind the comparisons(onboard to card being the obvious one that requires no thought). I still hold to my stance that a stock vs stock vs stock comparison would have been a better depiction of the cards true value(pretty big price jump from the Xonar to a Prelude) although I understand how you were trying to scrutinize the quality of the product by comparing it to something way out of its league.

No offense meant, I just needed a bit of clarification.

And what's up with cutting my post in half? Too much man-love for you to handle, hardnrg?

If you have the time / people to do it - next time it'd make sense to make the subjective tests blind comparisons. Even the best of us can be tricked by our preconceptions.

This is true... I think this was a rare case where I could tell the difference quite easily because of the soundcards/chips compared, and I'd expect the difference to be smaller in the future and yes, more subject to bias and secondary perception...

I could do 3 or 4 way blind testing with an assistant to randomly change the source selection on my amp

Eh, I still don't like all those fancy virtual surround wotsits and effect thingers. Somebody should concentrate on making a sub $100 card that does just plain, simple 5.1 well before worrying about EAX and CMSS-3D rubbish.